Aug 23

The end draws near and tonight we are staying at a Holiday Inn (M4 Jct. 4) at Sipson, adjacent to Heathrow so we can return the (by now hated, reviled, and evil malevolent) car from Hell to Avis in the morning of Aug 24. I’d planned to spend Sunday night near the airport reckoning getting into town would be easier on a Sunday afternoon; it was.

We had a short jaunt ahead of us and I was reluctant to let the countryside get away from me until the very end. On a whim I decided to visit the villages of Hemingford Abbots and Hemingford Grey. I hadn’t visited either village since the 70’s and was glad I returned. In Hemingford Abbots there are many thatched roofs and many of them have thatched animals on top.

We (reluctantly) left the countryside of East Anglia and headed towards London almost running out of gas again (what is it with limited petrol stations?!?) We checked into our Holiday Inn, another Priceline “name your own price” find.

It was a large room with a king-size bed and I got it for £30 GBP, a reasonable price I thought.

At the entrance of the Holiday Inn is a small pub called “The Plough”. Much more civilized than the terrace bar at the Holiday Inn and less than a five-minute walk from the hotel. I had a few pints of “London’s Pride” while my wife enjoyed her usual lager shandy.

Aug 24

It’s done! The driving portion of our trip is complete. We turned in that vicious, back aching lousy shifting car into Avis. 18 days and two after leaving Heathrow we put 2,448 miles on the car, averaged 32 MPH and 47 MPG. Total rental cost was £438.17 GBP, about $720. About $200 more than the original quote but I paid extra for my wife as a co-driver (she never did) and the fuel option and the slightly increased dollar = pound conversion rate. No claims of damage and we were off in a cab to our hotel.

The Park Lane Marriott

Stayed four nights in late Aug 2009. Like another traveler I approached my stay with some trepidations but was pleased with my experience. I got the room through Priceline Negotiator and thought that might affect my room but it was nice and large with a king size bed. It was on the third floor and there was some street noise in the morning but I turned on the room’s fan and that blocked out most of the noise.

It’s close to transportation and eateries. We never ate in the hotel so I can’t comment on the food. There is a small hole in the wall snack shop just out the main door and down the left on N Row called Cardinals. One of the doormen told me they have nice snacks and pastries. The pastries are good so that became our breakfast bar along with one visit to McDonalds. Big breakfasts were almost tiresome at this point of the trip and some simple pastries and junk food were a welcomed relief, yeah, I’m tacky, I know.

We enjoyed our stay and I would definitely come again.